The Public Theatre News

Burning Coal Theatre Company announces its second production of the 2010/2011 season, St. Nicholas, a one-man show by the Irish writer Conor McPherson, directed by Randolph Curtis Rand and featuring Burning Coal Artistic Director Jerome Davis. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm (November 4 - 6, 11 - 13, 18 - 20) and Sundays at 2 pm (November 7, 14 and 21, 2010). Tickets are $20 or $15 for students, seniors and active military. Thursday evening tickets are $10 apiece and Sunday, November 7th at 2 pm is our 'Pay What You Can' performance. The production will take place at the Murphey School, 224 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC (PLEASE NOTE venue name change). For further information, please contact Burning Coal's managing director, Simmie Kastner, at 919.834.4001.

Theatricum's play development program, Botanicum Seedlings, continues to foster its relationship with local playwrights by producing its first ever festival of new short plays. The Fall (short) Playreading Festival features the works of emerging and award-winning writers based in the L.A. area, all of whom have been involved with Seedlings. A harvest of eight short plays based on the theme 'backyard fruit,' along with gourmet seasonal refreshments, The Fall (short) Playreading Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday, November 20 & 21, at 2 pm. Admission is Free; donations gratefully accepted.

Flashpoint Theatre Company opens its 2010-2011 season with the premiere of Run, Mourner, Run by Tarell Alvin McCraney on October 27-November 20 at Second Stage at the Adrienne (2030 Sansom Street). Directed by Matt Pfeiffer, the ensemble cast includes Jake Blouch, Keith Conallen, Amanda Grove, Melanye Finister, Gerard Joseph, Aime Kelly, Jon Mulhearn and Brian McCann.

According to a report by Baz Bamigboye for UK Daily Mail, Michael Cerveris is in talks to reprise his role in Sondheim and Weidman's musical Road Show. Cerveris appeared in the Public Theatre production of the show 2 years ago. Road show will make its UK premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre in London next summer.

On November 19, 2010 at 8:00 PM in Carnegie Hall, Music Director and conductor Steven Reineke will lead The New York Pops in a concert of Stephen Sondheim's greatest songs and soliloquies, in commemoration of the composer's 80th birthday.

La Jolla Playhouse presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined, by Lynn Nottage (Intimate Apparel, Crumbs from the Table of Joy), directed by South Africa native Liesl Tommy, in the Mandell Weiss Theatre November 16 - December 19 (media night: Sunday, November 21 at 7:00 pm).

The Tony Award-nominated The Lion in Winter by James Goldman takes the stage at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey for a four-week run beginning October 20 and continuing through November 14.

Staying true to its roots of bringing provocative, thoughtful and, quite often, conversation-generating plays to Herberger Theatre's Stage West, Actors Theatre opens its 25th anniversary season with Sarah Ruhl's In The Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play), a comedy about marriage, intimacy and electricity, from Oct. 29 through Nov. 14.

THE 39 STEPS, a madcap spoof on Hitchcock's 1935 film, opens the Denver Center Theatre Company's 2010/11 season.

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey continues its popular annual summer tradition of family theatre under the stars with a new translation/adaptation of Carlo Goldoni's comedy The Servant of Two Masters. Performances begin on June 23 and continue through August 1. Performances are Tuesdays through Sundays at 8:15pm at the outdoor amphitheatre on the campus of the College of St. Elizabeth, 2 Convent Road in Morris Township.

Currently celebrating its 5th season under a new mission statement, LiveWire Chicago Theatre proudly presents its 3rd annual short play festival of new work that emphasizes audience feedback and community interaction.

Classic Stage Company (CSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, will present Anton Chekhov's THREE SISTERS, featuring 2010 Academy Award nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal (Masha), Josh Hamilton (Andre) 2010 Tony Award nominee Jessica Hecht (Olga) and acclaimed actor Peter Sarsgaard (Vershinin).

The Flea Theater presents On the Square Productions's World Premiere of Monroe, Illinois:to take place in December at their downstairs venue. On the Square Over Here/Townie Productions is an award winning 501(c)3 theatre company. Monroe, Illinois: Over Here/Townie is written by up and coming playwright Aaron Wigdor Levy (This Is Not a Time Bomb, Central). Levy is a member of The Public Theatre's Emerging Writers Group. Deborah Wolfson (Drums in the Night, Williamsburg: The Musical, America, A Problem Play) will direct. Monroe, Illinois: Over Here/Townie is written as two separate one-act plays. Both plays are set in fictional, working class town of Monroe, Illinois. Over Here revolves around a widowed matriarch, Patty, and her two children, Nora and Danny, all of whom are coping with the death of their husband/father who was killed in Iraq. Townie tells the story of one Woman through 30 years of her life, from her engagement to her marriage, the birth of her children, infidelity, and divorce. The deterioration of the traditional American family is the tie that binds.

Nicole Parker (WICKED, MAD-TV), Tony-nominated Jonelle Allen (Two Gentlemen of Verona) and the nationally acclaimed young performing group THE KIDS NEXT DOOR headline a fully-staged and costumed song and dance extravanganza, 'Cirque Du St. Nick', to kick off the holiday season in Southern California on November 19 and 20. The high energy production is part of a forty year tradition which culminates in the lighting of the West Coast's tallest decorated Christmas Tree at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

Philadelphia Theatre Company spells F-U-N when it opens its 35th Anniversary mainstage season with the multiple Tony Award winner The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee with music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, and conceived by Rebecca Feldman, running November 12-December 12 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets).

Eric Larivee Entertainment and The Vox Humana Project present Tony Award nominee, Broadway and West End Star Gavin Creel in Concert at Ryles in Boston, MA for 2 performances only - Saturday December 4th at 7pm and 9:30pm.

On Thursday, November 11, ELTC, itself, celebrates its now thirty-one years of entertaining audiences in Cape May and throughout the country, and the brave men and women who have served and are serving our country in the armed forces. Titled 'Stage Door Canteen,' ELTC's annual gala will once more take place at Aleathea's Restaurant at the Inn of Cape May, 7 Ocean Street, and the restaurant, once again, is graciously supporting the event.

Victory Gardens proudly announces casting for the World Premiere of Joel Drake Johnson's The Boys Room directed by Associate Artistic Director Sandy Shinner and for the Chicago Premiere of Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation directed by Dexter Bullard.

Next Theatre Company is proud to announce the Midwest premiere of Julie Cho's The Piano Teacher, directed by Lisa Portes, November 8 - December 5, 927 Noyes Street in Evanston.

Well today, Dear Readers was one helluva day! A group of spectacular shows and aside from a few interesting conversations I had with true New Yorkers on the bus, not a lot of time for anything else but shows since I was seeing three of them. So let's dive right in shall we?